Father Figure
by purplerayz
Summary: Reid's father shows up at his apartment for a visit, and Reid soon finds out that his intentions are nowhere near good.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own criminal minds or its characters.**

**This is my first story, so I'd appreciate reviews and comments. I hope you enjoy reading it!**

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Reid woke up to the sound of pounding on his door. He glanced over at the clock to reveal it was 4:00 AM. _Who could be here at this time of night?_ He really didn't want to get up to answer it, but decided he should at least check who it was. The thought crossed his mind that it could be someone from his team, but he hoped not. For one of his team to come knocking at his door in the middle of the night wouldn't mean anything remotely good.

All of the many possible reasons for someone to be at his door quickly raced through his mind, none of them good. A sense of worry swept through him as he groggily made his way through his apartment towards the door. He didn't think to grab his gun, just in case, from the table on his way, and against his better judgment, he unlocked the door and opened it without looking through the peep hole to see who it was first.

He immediately regretted it.

"Dad?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

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Reid stared in shock at the man before him. He was relieved that it wasn't one of his team members, but he really didn't want it to be his father either. He wished he had looked who it was before he had opened the door, but in reality he knew he would have opened it anyway. He would have been too curious as to why his father decided he needed to see him, especially at four in the morning, to ignore him and go back to sleep. In fact, he was curious right now.

"What are you doing here?" Reid asked, not hiding the resentment in his voice.

"Can I come in, Spencer?" his father asked.

Reid hesitated. He really did not want this man in his home. Again against his better judgment, Reid let him in, opening the door wider to let him through. He closed the door behind him and flicked on the light, following his father further inside. He watched his father as he took in his apartment. His eyes seem to linger on the large bookshelf across the room.

"Couldn't whatever this is have waited until a more decent hour?" Reid asked him.

His father just ignored the question. "You always did love to read," he said, more to himself than to Reid. He fell silent again, still taking in Reid's apartment.

"Are you going to tell me why you are here or just stand there and stare at all my stuff?" Reid was really starting to get annoyed. His father had woken him up in the middle of the night, and so far he hadn't even bothered to tell him why. He was starting to wonder if he really had a reason for being here at all. His father only seemed interested in looking around his apartment and completely ignoring him.

His father was still silent. "You know," Reid said, "if you haven't seen someone for almost twenty years, and they suddenly show up at your front door at four in the morning, I would think they would have a pretty good reason for doing so."

"Except for when you accused me of murder," his father said without looking back at him.

"What?"

"You haven't seen me in almost twenty years, except for when you accused me of murder a year ago," his father said. "Or did you forget that little part?"

"No, I haven't, but that doesn't change anything."

"Yes, it does. That little visit of yours changed everything."

"What are you talking about? One visit in twenty years doesn't change anything. You left when I was ten and stayed completely out of my life until then, and I think you should leave now, too!" Reid was getting more and more frustrated. His father still hadn't even told him why he was here, and now he didn't really even care anymore. He just wanted him to leave him alone and get out of his apartment.

But his father didn't make any move to leave. Instead, he started walking around his apartment, looking at everything. He neared the table in his kitchen area.

Reid was suddenly filled with dread. _Shit_. His gun was sitting on the table in its holster. And his father was eyeing it quite suspiciously.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

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Reid could only watch in horror as his father reached for the gun. He didn't even bother to try to grab the gun before his father could. He was standing too far away and knew he would never beat him to it.

"W-what are you doing?" Reid asked him, although he had a pretty good idea what his father wanted to do. _What else is a gun used for besides shooting someone?_

His father only answered him by pointing the gun directly at him.

Reid thought of his options. He could try to run. _You can't outrun a bullet!_ He could call out for help in hopes that his neighbors heard. _Then he'll just silence you with a bullet!_ He could try to secretly call someone from his team. _You left your cell phone in your room by your bed!_ He could try to talk his father down. _You don't know anything about him, and you don't even know why he's doing this!_

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"Your little visit may not have had any impact on your life, but it ruined mine. It turns out being accused of murder has some heavy repercussions." He paused. "You know, you can put your hands down. It's not like they are going to stop me from shooting you."

Reid hadn't even realized he had put his hands up. It was a sign of surrender he knew, but to what he was surrendering to he wasn't sure. It was just a natural reaction to having a gun pointed at him. He slowly lowered his hands to his side.

"Why do want to shoot me?"

"Because, your little visit ruined my life."

"How could it have ruined your life? You weren't even guilty."

"It seems that after you get accused of murder, no one trusts you anymore."

Reid swallowed slowly. He could tell were this was going. And it wasn't anywhere good.

"My boss fired me because he didn't want the company to get a bad reputation! My friends kept their children away from me because they were afraid I was going to molest them! And eventually those so called friends started to keep away from me themselves because they didn't trust me!"

His father was only becoming more and more agitated as he spoke.

"I'm sure that isn't the way they felt," Reid tried. "Sometimes our minds can play tricks on us and make us think th-"

"You saying I'm crazy?" his father interrupted with more force in his voice, taking a step towards Reid. "I am NOT like your mother!"

"I didn't say that. I was simply stating that your mind could have tricked you into believing that nobody trusted you anymore."

"My mind didn't trick me into anything! They didn't trust me. Not even the fact that I was found completely innocent made them trust me again."

"So you're going to continue to be completely innocent by killing me?"

"I might as well," his father said. "They already think I'm a murderer."

A moment later, he squeezed the trigger.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

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Reid felt a blinding pain in his right shoulder as the bullet ripped through him. He felt like he was about to pass out, but forced himself to stay conscious. White lights danced before his eyes, and as he blinked them away, he realized he was lying on the floor. He didn't really remember falling to the floor. He had been too concentrated on the pain in his shoulder and the fact that his father just shot him, with his own gun.

He rolled onto his right side and reached his left hand to his shoulder to try to slow the bleeding, but it didn't help very much. He wasn't sure if the bullet had gone completely through or if it had lodged in his shoulder. He tried taking a few slow, deep breaths to ease through the pain, but that didn't seem to help much either.

"Hurts, doesn't it?"

Reid could only watch as his father approached him, gun still in hand. He winced as his father pushed him onto his back.

"W-why didn't you just kill me?" Reid asked, finally finding his voice, though he was sure he already knew the answer.

"I've suffered for the past year because of you. I would only think it fair you should suffer for at least a little while before I do kill you."

_Great._ He couldn't just kill him and get it over with. _Haven't you already made me suffer enough in my life?_ Reid thought about making this point to his father. He practically had to raise himself and take care of his schizophrenic mother all by himself because he had left them. He decided against saying this to his father. He knew it wouldn't help. In fact, it would probably only make his situation worse.

He thought of the possibility that maybe one of his neighbors heard the gunshot and called the police. _They're all asleep. If the shot woke them up, they'll probably think they just imagined it and go right back to bed._

There was only one good thing about his father wanting him to suffer. It gave him more time to think of ways he could possibly get out of this alive. Reid wondered how long his father was planning on making him suffer. If it was long enough, he would be late for work. He was never late for work, so his team would start worrying about him. They would keep calling him and hopefully, eventually come to his apartment to check on him. But that was still a few hours away.

Reid was beginning to feel a little dizzy. The pain was still pulsing in his shoulder, which was still bleeding, but it seemed like the bleeding had slowed some. He wasn't losing enough blood for it to become fatal any time soon, but it was enough to make him feel lightheaded. And this was exactly what his father wanted. His father was going to sit here and watch him slowly bleed to death.

The voice of his father brought Reid out of his thoughts.

"You don't seem to be in enough pain," he said coldly.

Reid couldn't suppress a loud groan of pain as the gun was pressed hard into his gunshot wound. The white lights started dancing in front of his eyes again. This time he couldn't force himself stay conscious. The pain in his shoulder was multiplied many times over as his father pressed the gun even deeper into the wound, and the white lights turned to black as he passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

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Reid slowly began to become aware of himself again sometime later. Or better put, he became aware of his shoulder. It was still wracking with pain, and the pain seemed to somehow radiate throughout his entire body. He wasn't quite sure how this could be possible. _Maybe I'm just delirious from the blood loss._

He tried to move, but any movement seemed to send more waves of pain throughout his body, so he opted to just lie still. He could hear his father's movements not far from where he lay. He thought about just keeping his eyes closed and pretend to still be unconscious, but he was sure his father had noticed him starting to stir awake, so he gave in and opened his eyes slowly.

He saw the blurry figure of his father standing a few feet away from him, and he blinked a few times, trying to clear the blurriness away. Judging by light now coming through the window, Reid figured he must have been out for quite awhile.

He looked back towards his father, who was just standing there watching him. It sent a chill down his spine, not because he was being stared at, which usually made him quite uncomfortable, but because his father was watching him slowly die. And he was enjoying every minute of it.

Reid watched his father's face as he stared down at him. He was relishing this. _A little too much._ This probably wasn't only about what his accusation had caused to happen. Reid was sure all that happened to his father this past year wasn't all caused by his accusation of murder anyway. His father just wanted someone to blame. _And I'm the perfect one._

His father probably blamed him for other things too, maybe not consciously though. Right now he was taking all of his hatred out on him. Anything bad that has happened in his life was probably surfing in his father's mind as he watched him, and the blame for those things was being passed straight onto Reid.

Reid noticed a gradual change in his father's expression. The look of enjoyment had changed to a look of slight boredom. That only meant one of two things. He was either going to kill him now or put him through more pain. Sadly, Reid hoped for the latter.

His father turned away from him and walked towards the kitchen. If there was a chance to try something, Reid knew it would be now, but he felt like he couldn't move. He wouldn't have had enough time to do anything anyways, he realized, because his father was already coming back towards him.

As he approached, Reid saw a glint of silver in his hand. _Apparently, the gun isn't working for him anymore_. He had grabbed a knife from Reid's kitchen drawer.

Without a word, his father came up to him, hardly even looked at him, and plunged the knife into Reid's left thigh.

The pain in his shoulder was suddenly forgotten as the newfound pain in his leg gained all of his attention. He found that he could, in fact, move, as his body reacted to the new pain. He shot forward, and his hands automatically reached for his leg. He rolled to his side as he clenched his hands around his thigh. He couldn't really do anything since the knife was still lodged deep into his thigh.

He lay on his side, panting as the jolts of pain shot through him. He realized that, once again, he was on the verge of passing out. He should try to stay awake, he knew, but he didn't seem to have any control anymore. His body quickly gave into itself, welcoming the darkness.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

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A small groan escaped Reid's slightly parted lips as he started to regain consciousness again, and he slowly opened his eyes. He was still lying on his side in the exact same position he had passed out in. He stayed that way, not wanting to endure the pain that would be sent through his body if he tried to move.

He felt only a dull pain in his shoulder, while the pain from the wound in his leg was more prominent. He saw that the knife was still sticking into his thigh, but that was probably a good thing, he realized. If it was taken out, it would only bleed a lot more.

He lay there breathing slowly for a few minutes, listening to the silence that filled his apartment. Silence. _Did he leave?_

His question was soon answered as he heard a noise coming from his bedroom. He knew that would have been too good to be true. His father wanted to watch him suffer, and he probably wasn't going leave until he was dead. His only hope seemed to be for his father to drag this out long enough for his team to come and check on him, but he had no idea how long that would be. He didn't have any clue how much time had passed while he was unconscious.

His father came back into the room holding a picture. _Is he going through my stuff?_ Reid immediately recognized the frame. It was a picture of him and his mother from when he was a little boy.

"You know, I believe I was the one who took this picture," his father told him.

For some reason, this caused Reid to suddenly hate the picture. He had always loved it, but now it just didn't seem the same. Maybe that's what his father had wanted. This was torturing Reid psychologically, not just physically. And his father knew that.

His father tossed the picture over his shoulder like it was nothing, like it meant absolutely nothing. Reid heard the glass frame cracking as it hit the floor.

His father left the room again, and Reid suddenly realized how tired he was. His eyelids were starting to fall close, and he made no effort to stop them.

When he opened his eyes again, his father was back in the room with him, watching him again. He saw a look in his father's eyes that meant nothing good was about to happen. He came closer to Reid and used his foot to push him forcefully onto his back. Reid winced as the movement caused jolts of pain in his shoulder and leg.

His father began to bend down towards him, and Reid tried to brace himself for what was about to happen.

He tried not to yelp in pain as the knife was ripped from his thigh, and the blood began to flow freely from his leg. A wave of dizziness swept through him, and he closed his eyes to try to stop the room from spinning above him.

As he began to drift into unconsciousness, he realized he didn't know how much his leg was bleeding. _This could be the end._ He suddenly realized how much he wanted to live. He wanted to see his team members again, his family. They would take his death hard, and each of them would deal with it in a different way.

He vaguely wondered how his mother would react to his death. She probably wouldn't be lucid enough to comprehend it. _Maybe that was a good thing..._


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

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To his own surprise, Reid began to wake again. He had thought for sure that he wouldn't. He could hear his father near him, but he soon heard his footsteps walking away from him. That's when he realized he heard something else.

His eyes shot open as he heard the sound of his cell phone ringing from his bedroom. _My Team._ He had never been happier to hear the sound of his phone ringing. _Maybe there is still hope._

He must be late for work. _Has it been that long already?_ Although it felt like he had been lying here for an eternity, it still seemed like that much time shouldn't have passed yet, but he was glad that it had.

The ringing was getting louder. His father came back into the room with Reid's phone in his hand.

"Late for work, I presume," his father said. "Morgan…I believe I met him."

_Morgan. He will be filled with anger. He will take the longest to accept my death..._

Reid began to drift in and out of consciousness. He wasn't sure how long he was out each time, but it was enough time for more calls to come to his phone. Each time his phone rang, it brought him back into the world. And each time, his father told him who was calling.

"JJ."

_JJ. She will cry the most. She will lose her best friend, and her baby will lose his godfather..._

"Garcia."

Reid wondered why his father kept telling him who was calling. _He wants me to remember what I'm going to lose. He's trying to torture me psychologically by making me think about what my death is going to do to them._ It was working.

_Garcia. This will hurt her the most. She won't be able to be that bubbly, cheery person that makes everyone smile anymore..._

"Morgan, again."

_Of course he would be the one calling me the most..._

"Prentiss."

_Emily. She will take this hard, but she won't show her emotions in front of anyone. She will cry when she is alone..._

"Morgan. Hmm. That's the third time. He must be really worried about you."

_I wouldn't expect anything less..._

"Rossi."

_Rossi. He will be sad, but he will be the one to encourage the others that they need to move on, and that that would be what I would have wanted..._

"Morgan."

Reid realized that everyone probably knew Morgan was calling him, but each of them had to try for themselves. It made him sad to realize how much everyone cared for him and worried about him. The only one who hadn't called yet was...

"Hotchner."

_Hotch. He will blame himself. No matter what anyone tries to tell him, he will still feel like it's his fault he wasn't here to protect me._

A thought popped into Reid's head. For Hotch to give in and call him meant that he was getting really worried. _That means he'll send someone to come check on me soon._ Another thought popped into his head. _My father probably knows this as well and is going to kill me soon._

A question began to float through Reid's mind as he once again began to slowly drift into unconsciousness. _Which one is going to happen first?_


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

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Reid woke again, but this time it wasn't from the sound of his cell phone ringing. He heard loud voices. They were familiar to him, but he knew they didn't belong to his father. They were yelling at him, calling his name. _No...not my name._

"Put down the gun!" _Morgan!_

"Mr. Reid, drop your weapon and step away from him!" _Hotch!_

Reid tried opening his eyes to see what exactly was going on around him, but his eyelids didn't seem to want to listen. He lay still as he observed his surroundings with his other senses instead.

From what he could tell, someone was standing near where he lay, apparently wielding a gun. _My father. Probably my gun, too._ And by the continuing commands and orders coming from Hotch and Morgan, he wasn't listening.

Hotch and Morgan being here meant this was finally going to be over. Reid was relieved, but he wondered why his father was even still here. He had to have known someone would be coming to his apartment to check on him soon. He easily could have finished this and left. _Why hadn't he?_

It was possible his father had just thought that he had more time before anyone came. He was probably trying to get every last bit of enjoyment out of making him suffer that he could and took his sweet time. _Lucky for me, he did._

"You don't want to do this. We can sort this out, but you need to put down the gun first," Hotch continued speaking.

For Hotch himself to come must have meant he was extremely worried about him, Reid realized. Hotch was probably initially going to come by himself, but Reid was sure Morgan would have insisted on coming with, too. _It's probably a good thing he did._

They could try and talk his father down all they wanted, but Reid doubted it was going to help. His father had already gotten this far, so there was a good chance he was going to try to finish what he had started.

Reid's father finally spoke, but unlike Hotch's and Morgan's urgent and demanding voices, his was calm and quiet, almost like he was having just a normal, everyday conversation with a friend. "He's already dead, you know."

_No, I'm not! Wait...Am I?_ The thought crossed his mind that he could be having some sort of afterlife experience. He had never believed in that sort of thing before, but after what his father just did to him, he was beginning to think almost anything was possible.

"Then why are you pointing your gun at him like he's still alive?" Hotch asked, but his father didn't respond.

A deathly silence filled the room. There was a drastic change in tension as everyone seemed to be waiting for something to happen, for someone to make the first move. Reid could sense his father shifting slightly, quickly followed by shouts from Hotch and Morgan.

"Don't!"

"Don't do it!"

Reid was beginning to lose his sense of the world around him again as everything seemed to be slowly fading away. He knew the noises he heard next should have been much louder, but to him, they only sounded like two faint popping noises. _Gunshots..._


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

* * *

Reid felt fingers being pressed against his neck. _Checking for a pulse._ The fingers pulled away, apparently satisfied with an answer to Reid's own question. _Am I alive?_ He felt himself being rolled to his side slightly for a moment and then being rolled back onto his back. _Checking to see if the bullet went all of the way through me._

Yes. The answer to his question was yes. The pain in his shoulder and leg told him that he was still very much alive. _Maybe not for much longer though..._

As he felt hands pressing hard onto his shoulder, he heard a loud groan of pain. It didn't take long for him to realize that the groan had escaped from his own lips. For a moment, he thought it was his father pressing onto his shoulder, trying to inflict more pain onto him, but he soon realized he could hear other things around him that wasn't his father. There was a voice. Voices. Urgent voices. Very, very urgent voices.

"Reid! REID!" _Hotch..._ "Morgan, his leg!" Reid groaned again as he felt pressure on his thigh.

"Come on, kid, open your eyes for us." _Morgan..._

Reid struggled to obey the command of his friend. With much effort, he forced himself to open his eyes, and he saw the blurry figures Hotch and Morgan on either side of him. Hotch had his hands on the bullet hole in his shoulder, and Morgan had his on the knife wound in his leg.

As he blinked away the blurriness from his eyes, Reid saw the worried looks on their faces. Even Hotch, who never showed his emotions, looked worried. _That can't be good._

"That's it, kid. Now keep them open for us. There's an ambulance on the way." _Oh, good._

Reid felt dizzy. Dizzy and tired. Morgan must have noticed this.

"Stay with us, Reid."

"'m tired…" Reid managed to mumble.

"I know, kid, but I promise you can sleep later." _Why not now?_ "Right now you need to stay awake."

Reid couldn't help as a tear slid down from his eye. He had desperately wanted to cry all morning, but he wouldn't let himself do it in front of his father. But now he didn't care anymore, and a few more tears fell from his eyes.

"Hey, it's okay, kid. You're going to be okay." _I hope your right._

He knew they thought he was crying because he was scared. He wasn't scared, not anymore at least. He was crying because his father had almost killed him. _My father!_

"M-my dad," Reid said softly.

"He's gone, kid," Morgan told him. "You don't have to worry about him anymore."

Reid moved his head to the side and saw the still form of his father lying a few feet away from him.

"H-he was...the one...w-who...did this." It was becoming more difficult for Reid to talk. He realized his vision was starting to blur again, and it wasn't from the tears in his eyes.

"We know, Reid. What exactly happened?" Hotch asked.

Reid knew he was only asking in an effort to keep him talking and awake, but Reid didn't answer him. He couldn't. He didn't seem to have any control anymore as his eyelids began to close again. He heard Morgan and Hotch telling him to stay awake, to keep his eyes open. He wanted to listen, he tried hard to listen, but his body decided against him to welcome the darkness once again.

He was vaguely aware of Hotch's and Morgan's hands leaving his body and being replaced with new ones. He heard new voices that he knew went with the new hands. These voices were urgent like Hotch's and Morgan's had been, but the urgency was somehow different. _They don't know me. They won't be affected if I die..._

When he opened his eyes again, he saw that he was in the back of an ambulance. Morgan was there with him, and Reid noticed that there was a lot of blood on his hands. _My blood._

Morgan was saying something to him, but he didn't hear what it was. The darkness was threatened to claim him again, and this time, he welcomed it.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

____

_

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_

_No pain._ That was the first thing Reid became aware of. The second was the soft voices of two people near him. _Hotch and Morgan._

Reid realized that he was lying in a hospital bed. He felt really tired and wanted to go back to sleep but decided to try opening his eyes anyway.

"Reid?" As he did open his eyes, he saw Morgan sitting in a chair next to his bed and Hotch standing at the foot of the bed.

"Hey, kid, nice of you to finally join us. We thought you were going to sleep until next week," Morgan said with a smile.

"That sounds like a good idea," Reid said a little sleepily. "How long have I been here?"

"A couple days," Hotch answered.

"You scared the hell out of us, kid."

"Sorry," Reid mumbled.

"It's not your fault, Reid."

"What happened after you guys came?" Reid asked. He saw Hotch's hesitancy before he gave him an answer.

"When we got to your apartment, your father was standing over you with a gun his hand. He was threatening to shoot you, and he would have if we hadn't shot him. I'm sorry, Reid."

"That's not a site I will soon forget," Morgan commented quietly.

"Try seeing it from my angle," Reid mumbled coldly.

"Morgan, could you give us a minute alone?" Hotch asked.

"Sure. I'll go let the doc know that he's awake."

Reid watched as Morgan left the room and Hotch took his place in the chair. Hotch was quiet for a moment before he spoke.

"Reid, I know you don't want to, but you need to talk to someone about this. If you want to talk, I am willing to listen. Any of us are."

Reid stared down at his bed, not able to meet Hotch's gaze. "My own father shot and stabbed me, Hotch, with my own gun and knife right after I let him walk into my apartment."

"It's not your fault, Reid."

Reid knew Hotch was probably right, but he still couldn't control the anger and resentment that was evident in his voice. "Then he decided it would be fun to watch me slowly bleed to death."

Hotch didn't say anything, but Reid could still feel him watching him. "I don't understand," Reid finally said, a little more calmly.

"What?"

Reid slowly looked up at his boss. "Why he didn't kill me and leave. He had to have known you guys would come soon."

"He could have started to regret doing it," Hotch suggested.

"No. You didn't see the look in his eyes, Hotch. He didn't regret anything."

"Reid," Hotch said slowly. "Maybe you should concentrate on the fact that you're alive, instead of wondering why you aren't dead."

They were silent again and were interrupted by the doctor entering the room. After he finished checking all of Reid's vitals, he left the room again, telling Reid to get some rest.

"I'll leave you alone, Reid. You need listen to the doctor and rest," Hotch told him and turned around to leave.

Reid hadn't noticed how tired he actually was until now. He realized both Hotch and his doctor were right. He needed to rest.

"Hotch?" he asked sleepily just as Hotch had reached the door.

"Yeah?" Hotch said, turning around.

"Thanks." Reid's eyelids started to close out of their own accord, but before they did, Reid saw a light smile form on Hotch's face.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

* * *

"Are you sure you want to do this, Reid?" Hotch asked as he turned off the vehicle. "I can go up and do it myself."

"It's fine, Hotch. I can handle it." Reid opened his door without another word. Hotch did the same and went around to help him get out. It would have been easier on his leg to use two crutches, but he could only use one because of his injured shoulder. Reid made his way to the building slowly, but Hotch was patient with him the entire time. He was grateful that Hotch hadn't pushed the issue further. The truth was he wasn't really sure if he could handle it.

He had just been released from the hospital, and they were stopping at his apartment to pick up some things to bring to Hotch's place. He had offered Reid his spare bedroom until he healed better and found a new apartment. Reid knew he would never be able to stay in his apartment anymore. It would remind him too much of what had happened.

When they finally made it to his apartment door, Hotch opened it, and Reid took a deep breath before he ventured inside behind him. The place seemed immensely different to him. It just didn't feel like his home anymore. Reid stopped in his tracks as he saw the blood on his carpet, his blood, and his father's blood as well.

"Do you want any help?"

"No," Reid responded when he realized Hotch was talking to him. Reid forced himself to tear his gaze away from the site and move to his bedroom to gather some clothes, leaving Hotch alone in his living room.

He found many of his things out of place from his father looking through his stuff, but he ignored it, and started grabbing some clothing, not really taking care to fold them nicely, and put them in his bag.

As he was gathering his things, he noticed something that wasn't out of place. He wouldn't have given it a second thought, but it was the one thing he knew should not be in its exact place. _Why did he put it back?_

He set his crutch to the side and picked up the photo of him and his mother from its spot on the dresser. He sat down on his bed, slowly tracing his fingers along the crack in the glass frame. He noticed a drop of water on the picture and realized it was from his own tears, which were now freely falling down his face.

A sob escaped him as he finally allowed himself to break down, and it wasn't long until he felt a hand on his back, running comfortingly up and down. He soon found himself crying uncontrollably onto Hotch's shoulder.

He didn't know how long they sat there like that, but eventually his tears began to subside. "I'm sorry," he managed to say.

"It's okay, Reid. I'm just surprised it has taken you this long." Hotch reached for the box of tissues and held it out to Reid.

"Hotch?" Reid asked quietly after a moment. "This isn't going to be easy to get over, is it?"

"Not at all," Hotch answered honestly. "It's going to take time, Reid, but before you can, you will need to realize two things. First, absolutely none if this was your fault." _That won't be easy._

"What's the second?"

"You don't have to be related to be family." Reid smiled slightly. _I think I'm already beginning to realize that one._


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I, sadly, do no own Criminal Minds or its characters.**

**I appreciate reviews and comments!**

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_One week later..._

Reid walked slowly over to the gathered group of people, limping slightly as he went. He wasn't entirely sure why he was even here after all that had happened. Part of him wanted to run far, far away from this, and the other part, the more compassionate part, of him needed to be here.

He knew being here was the only way he could even start to move past what had happened. It was going to be a long time before he would, but with the help of his team, he knew he would eventually be able to. They had already been a great help to him. They took turns sitting with him in the hospital and talked with him, and it helped Reid realize what family really means.

_Just because you share the same blood, doesn't mean you are family. And just because you don't share the same blood, doesn't mean you can't become one._

Every one of his team members had offered to come with him if he wanted them to, but he told everyone no. He needed to do this alone.

He finally reached the group and stayed near the back the entire time, trying to stay unnoticed as much as possible. As people began to disperse a while later, he stayed standing where he was. When the crowd was nearly all gone, he slowly made his way up to what everyone had been gathered around.

He just stared at it for a couple of minutes, unsure of exactly what to think. _How do you say goodbye to someone who you wish had been everything they were not?_

A tear slid down his cheek, but Reid wasn't sure why. It could have been for what had happened to him, for what had come so very close to happening to him. It could have been for his mother, for everything she has had to suffer through in her mind. It could have been for himself, for all that he has had to suffer through, even before this.

Or it could have even been for his father, for the amount of pain he must have had to have felt to make him believe he had to do this.

"Goodbye, dad," Reid finally said softly. After a moment, he turned around and began walking slowly away from his father's gravesite.

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**The End! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Let me know your thoughts!**


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